Greta Thunberg charged after blocking road at oil protest
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been charged with disobeying a police order at a climate protest in Sweden where she joined activists blocking a road.
Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan reports that the activist, 20, is facing charges after protesters blocked the entrance to Malmö’s harbour in a protest against the fossil fuel industry on 19 June.
Activists from the Ta Tillbaka Framtiden (Take Back the Future) group had staged a days-long protest at the port, where a number of oil tankers were stationed, preventing oil trucks from leaving.
Thunberg was photographed holding a sign bearing the message “I’m blocking tankers” before being hauled away by police officers.
She posted on Instagram at the time: “The climate crisis is already a matter of life and death for countless people. We choose to not be bystanders, and instead physically stop the fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future.”
Alma Laudon, press spokesperson for Take Back the Future, said: “The fossil industry has life on its conscience. The warming it causes risks even more lives and it tears apart the future of young people. Blocking fossil fuels is thus both an act of solidarity and of self-defence.”
The group has vowed to continue its actions despite arrests.
“You have the freedom to demonstrate, but you must not demonstrate in such a way that it causes disturbances for others,” prosecutor Charlotte Ottosen said, according to Sydsvenskan.
A hearing in Malmö district court is tentatively scheduled for the end of July.
If convicted for disobeying a police order, Thunberg could technically face up to six months in prison, although Ms Ottosen said the charge “usually leads to fines”.
